DIVER TESTS
WELL AND TRULY TESTED
Shearwater has gained quite a reputation for its advanced dive computers, so how far has it needed to compromise to enter the mass market? Only one way to find out - over to STEVE WARREN
COMPUTER
SHEARWATER PEREGRINE
A SANTOS DIVE IS NAMED FOR MY OLD friend Dennis Santos. It’s a dive that might include a certain amount of deviation from the plan made topside. And such leeway was why, having specifically said that I didn’t want to go into formal decompression, I was studying with interest the “Deco Required” display on the Shearwater Peregrine computer.
Shearwater Research is a Canadian company that was formed in 2004 to design computers for technical diving. Its machines have been aimed at open-circuit trimix and closed-circuit rebreather divers, and they are highly regarded.
Inevitably, with sophistication comes complexity and cost, and the brand had not crossed over into the less-demanding, more price-sensitive, computer-crowded recreational market.
With the launch of the Peregrine, Shearwater is now breaching that boundary, introducing a simplified and affordable three-mix air/nitrox computer with gauge function that carries with it Shearwater’s reputation.
Spoiler alert: The Peregrine is a very user-friendly computer, and that begins with the manual. It has a homely tone. It talks about “Erik” when referring to Erik Baker’s explanations of gradient factors for homework, conveying the impression that Shearwater is a small, hands-on company. It’s the best-presented dive-computer manual I have seen.
The Design
The Peregrine comes in a small zipped travel case. Even here we find attention to detail.
A form-fitted two-part hard-foam insert protects the computer from impact. The back of the insert is cut to house two Philips head screwdrivers for changing the wrist-strap for the supplied bungee cord. Even these have big grips for use with cold hands.
It’s powered by a rechargeable li-ion battery that charges wirelessly, so there are no charging sockets to flood, battery covers to remove or contacts to corrode. The charger connects to a USB lead.
Curiously, it doesn’t clip or use magnets to attach to the Peregrine, which you have to secure using the wrist-strap or bungee. Then it will stay connected even if you’re on a rolling boat.
The Peregrine is slim but with a decent-sized 60x40mm full-colour LCD QVGA screen. It’s inset to avoid scratches and an O-ring buffer allows you to set it down safely on its face.
Only two buttons are used to choose and set the functions, and you don’t need to employ those long or short presses in the right sequence to make and save your selection.
The Peregrine flashes up words such as Edit, Next and Save beside the button you need, so it’s very easy to follow.
The screen is neatly divided into boxes that clearly separate information such as current depth and elapsed dive-time from safety stop or, in deco, time to surface and ceiling depth, with a further box given over to the mix you’re breathing. The legends and numerals are very easily read.
Algorithm
The Peregrine uses the well-proven Buhlmann ZHL-16C algorithm. Unlike most ZHL-16C instruments, it doesn’t have a deep-stops option, although it does usefully let you choose the depth of your shallowest deco level from either 3 or 6m.